Treasures from the Sea: Sea Silk & Shellfish Purple Dye in Antiquity (Ancient Textiles)

This interdisciplinary volume presents a collection of 17 papers which treat the current state of research on two marine resources used in ancient textile manufacture, shellfish purple dye and sea silk. Purple dye is extracted from the glands of the molluscs Hexaplex trunculus, Bolinus Brandaris and Stramonita Haemastoma which through a chemical reaction of photosynthesis produces hues ranging from dark red to bluish purple colour. The importance of purple dye since ancient times as a status symbol, a sign of royal and religious power is well documented. Papers include the study of epigraphical and historical sources, practical experiments as well as, highlighting the presence of purple dye in the Mediterranean area in select archaeological data. Less well known is sea silk, a precious fibre derived from the tufts of the pen shell, Pinna nobilis, with which the mollusc anchors itself to the seabed. These tufts once cleaned and bleached take the aspect of golden thread. Only a handful of artisans on Sardinia still have the knowledge of how to work these fibres from the pen shell, a species protected by the EU Habitats Directive, the knowledge having been transmitted orally for generations. Papers include linguistic issues pertaining to terminology, archaeological investigation, the study of the physical and chemical properties of sea silk and the step-by-step practical working of sea silk fibres. The comprehensive multifaceted overview makes this book a valuable resource for anyone interested in ancient textiles, dyes and textile technology.Table of ContentsCONTENTSIntroductionby Hedvig Landenius Enegren and Francesco Meo1. Byssus and Sea Silk: A Linguistic Problem With Consequences by Felicitas Maeder2. Morphology, Properties and Microscopical Identification of Sea Silkby Anne Sicken3. Tangled Threads. Byssus and Sea Silk in the Bronze Age: an Interdisciplinary Approach by Elena Soriga and Alfredo Carannante4. Finds of Pinna Nobilis, Hexaplex Trunculus and Evidence For a Specialized Textile Production in Aetolian Chalkisby Sanne Houby-Nielsen5. Taras and Sea Silkby Francesco Meo6. Dal bisso grezzo al filato di bisso / From Raw Sea Silk to Byssus Threadby Assuntina Pes and Giuseppina Pes7. Dyeing Wool And Sea Silk With Purple Pigment From Hexaplex Trunculusby Inge Boesken Kanold8. Recent Advances in the Understanding of the Chemistry of Tyrian Purple Production From Mediterranean Molluscsby Chris Cooksey9. Mari(ne) Purple: Western Textile Technology in Middle Bronze Age Syriaby Elena Soriga10. The Spread of Purple Dyeing in the Eastern Mediterranean - A Transfer of Technological Knowledge?by Christoph Kremer11. Sacred Colours: Purple Textiles in Greek Sanctuaries in the Second Half of the 1st Millennium BCby Cecilie Brøns12. «A Lydian chiton with a purple fringe...»: The Gift of the Garment to the Hera of Samos and Hera of Seleby Bianca Ferrara13. Purple For the Masses? Shellfish Purple Dyed Textiles From the Quarry Workers’ Cemetery at Strozzacapponi (Perugia/Corciano), Italy by Margarita Gleba, Ina Vanden Berghe and Luana Cenciaioli14. Historical Outline and Chromatic Properties of Purpura Rubra Tarentina and Its Potential Identification With Purple Dye Extracted From Bolinus Brandaris by Fabienne Meiers15. "Purple Wars": Fishing Rights and Political Conflicts Concerning the Production of Marine Dyes in Hellenistic Greeceby Carmen Alfaro Giner and Francisco Javier Fernández Nieto16. Purpurarii in the Western Mediterraneanby Benedict J. Lowe17. Shell Purple-dye Production in the Mediterranean Basinby David S. Reese Read more